Those who visit LAAD 2023 get in touch with what is most modern in the defense and security industry in Latin America. One of the highlights of the fair, this year, is displayed at the Saab booth, a concept of the future Armored Anti-Aircraft Combat Vehicle – Media on Wheels (Shooting Unit version), equipment that will be part of a new mobile anti-aircraft defense system. This system also includes an armored anti-aircraft combat vehicle – medium on wheels (control and warning version), a vehicle that will have a mobile radar and will house the Anti-Aircraft Operations Center of the Mechanized Anti-Aircraft Section.
The project was initiated by the Integrated Design Directive, Ordinance No. 944-EME, of January 12, 2023, which has the purpose of regulating the necessary measures for the Integrated Design of the Medium Combat Anti-Aircraft Vehicle on Wheels (VBC AAe – MSR) of the Mechanized Missile Anti-Aircraft Artillery Section for the preparation of the Feasibility Study and the documents of the Design Phase of the General Instructions for the Management of the Life Cycle of Systems and Materials of Military Employment.
Among the specific objectives of the project, the following stand out: to obtain Medium Antiaircraft Combat Vehicles on Wheels (in the versions Shooting Unit and Control and Alert Unit); to integrate the vehicular platform system of the Guarani family of armored vehicles with the Army’s low-altitude antiaircraft missile subsystem and with the control and alert subsystem, in the Antiaircraft Artillery Section echelon, making the command and control systems of the new vehicles compatible with the command and control system of the Land Force. All aiming to meet the general objective of providing mobile anti-aircraft defense capability to the Mechanized/Armed Brigades.
The first EPEx integrated project, the VBC AAe – MSR is inserted in the scope of the Army’s Strategic Programs Armored Forces and Air Defense; and will become part of the Guarani armored vehicles family, using the high precision missile system in the Shooting Unit version, and high resolution mobile radar in the Control and Warning version.
According to General Rocha Lima, Chief of the Army Project Office, “the purpose of the VBC AAe – MSR Project is to equip the organic anti-aircraft batteries of the mechanized brigades, contributing significantly to improve the Land Force’s mobile anti-aircraft defense capacity.
According to the company’s website, one of Saab’s highlights at LAAD is the Mobile Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) concept, a highly mobile anti-air defense solution to accompany mechanized and armored troops on the move, which combines one or more RBS 70 firing units and a Giraffe 1X radar, linked to Saab’s Command and Control System (C²). At the booth, Saab demonstrated the possibility of integrating an RBS70 NG firing unit with the Brazilian Army’s Guarani Medium Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (VBTP MSR).